Own the Night
by Aralechan2000
Summary: Sakura has a boring afterschool life but that changes when she forms a band with her friends and they join the Battle of the Bands: Own the Night. They are shipped away to the US of A for the compitition in New York. BAD SUMMARY GOOD STORY ON HIATUS PERMANENTLY (?)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey people of the Fan Fiction Universe! My wonderful new story...taadaa! So I've only written one other story on this account and it's more of a parody than a story but check out my other stories on Mangamonsters, the account a share with my friend. I want to thank Alice7000 and Safaia no Hono for editing this for me and Safaia for giving me lots of ideas for this story. I love you guys. This is going to be my Oscar speech +sigh+.**

**I also want to say that the story takes place in Japan but they go to an American style high school (four years instead of three) and that they sing English songs...maybe they listen to English music...I don't know.**

**Disclaimer time! I don't own Naruto or 1985 by Bowling for soup or Paradise by Coldplay. Hopefully I own Battle of the Bands: Own the Night**

**And one last thing (sorry, is this author note too long?) when Ino and Sakura pass notes Ino's are the ones in italics and Sakura's are the ones in bold.**

**So without further ado...let the story commence!**

One good thing about music: when it hits you, you feel no pain.

~Bob Marley

"That'll be a total of ¥270," drones the girl and she smacks her gum. I sigh and hand her the money.

Welcome to Boringsville, Sakura Haruno. This is how I spend my days after school, not hanging out with friends, finishing my homework (did it behind the bleachers during gym), watching TV. No, my days are spent at the dollar store buying pop and stale candy to throw at the ducks under the mossy bridge on the way home.

I head out into the burning sun and pull off my regular blue sweater vest and light blue shirt until I'm in just my cami. Then I roll up my skirt like they never let us at school. The uniform. Such is the curse of those learning at Konoha Country Day.

I walk down the sidewalk as I shove the cursed uniform into my mail carrier style bag. The traffic light turns green as soon as I get to the crosswalk. I curse so bad God should wash my mouth out with radioactive soap.

I hear a nervous giggle next to me and see a girl. She's a slightly taller than me and a little more than slightly bigger in the chest area. I curse again. Her hair is deep black and it seems purpley in the sun. She's holding diet pop and vegetables in one hand. So she's one of those girls. The girls who have perfect bodies but are always dieting because they hate themselves. I hate those girls.

She looks over to me and whispers hi. I nod and notice her eyes are blank and pearly but beautiful.

The light turns red and we both cross and walk down the same sidewalk, "Well this is kinda awkward," I say, rubbing the back of my head, "which way are you going?"

Her reply is soft and a little stuttered, "Th-the old bridge down the road."

"Hey, whudda you know, me too," so we walk down the streets, she doesn't say much but I notice she's wearing the Konoha Country Day uniform. She must be older than me.

So here we sit legs dangling over the side of the bridge throwing candy at ducks.

I think she thinks that we're feeding them but I made up a game in my head. 10 points if you hit the duck's back, 20 if you hit its neck, 30 if you hit its head, and 50 if you hit its wings.

I chuck a Milk Dud and it hits a mallard on the wing, "Score!" I yell.

"I bet I have more points then you," she smirks and sticks out her tongue, then she blushes and looks down. I guess she did know we were playing hit the duck.

We chuck petrified Swedish Fish at the ducks and they either squawk and flap their wings or choke on the thousand year old candy.

"So you go to KCD, too?" I ask she nods and notices my blue plaid skirt and cami.

"I guess you don't like the uniform either," she says softly. I'm beginning to notices she says everything like she's afraid someone will yell at her.

"So what grade are you in?"

"Senior," she says. Darn. A year older than me.

"Okay then, what's your name? Mine's Haruno Sakura," I tell her.

"Hyuuga Hinata,"

The old M&Ms I just ate aren't going down too well, "Sorry Hinata, I'll be right back," I get up and dash to the bathroom. Several minutes later I emerge from the horrid place they call a public restroom.

I walk back to the bridge trying not to trip over the huge rocks on the path back. As I come closer I hear singing. Good singing. It's pretty and melodic and kind of haunting.

"...and the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on it gets so heavy..."

I walk up behind Hinata and tap her shoulder. She just about falls in the river.

"S-sorry," she mumbles and blushes.

"That's a-ok, sister," I say. "You're a really good singer!" she blushes and mumbles a thank you. "I love to sing," I continue, "we should totally make a band together!"

She blinks then nods in a thoughtful way, "We should," she whispers.

We giggle but my cell phone buzzes and it's my mother, yelling at me to come home now.

I sigh and stand up, "Bye Hyuuga senpai, we should hang out here tomorrow."

"Okay. But you don't have to call me senpai," she tells me shyly. I wave good bye and trudge back home.

•••

Mom drops me off at school the next day and I open the heavy wooden doors. My locker is on the fourth floor. Some idiot screwed up so now instead of being with my friends on the third floor I'm stuck being pushed around by seniors.

At least I'm on the same floor as Hinata but I still have to walk downstairs to get to most of my classes. Ino catches up with me as I walk down to my English class.

"What's up, girlfriend?" she says poking me.

"Shut up, Ino. It's way too early," I groan. She pouts and sighs as we turn into our English class. Iruka sensei is scrawling something in the impossible language that is English.

I sit in front of Ino but behind Karin. Karin's leaning forward, talking to Konan. Probably another plot to lock me into the storage closet. I lean forward because this is my business.

"...so yeah. I totally want to be in the Battle of the Bands. It's in America this year," she snorts and rolls her eyes, "it's going to make this stupid class worthwhile. Anyway, you can play guitar, right? Wanna be in my band?" Konan just nods a little and folds her homework into a rose.

A battle of the bands? Weren't Hinata and I JUST talking about forming a band? And Ino can play piano!

I turn around to tell Ino but the bell rings, signaling the beginning of first hour.

Iruka launches into some lecture about conjugating verbs but I can't concentrate. How awesome would it be to win a Battle of the Bands? In America!

I scribble a note to Ino:

**Heard Karin saying there's a Battle of the Bands in America! I and a senior already have a 'band' :) We totally need you for keyboard!**

I toss it over my head when Iruka sensei turns to write on the board. A slip of paper flutters onto my desk a moment later. Ino's reply is in sparkly purple pen and her handwriting is loopy and bubbly as ever.

_Seriously? You trust KARIN? And what? You're friends with a senior? Geez Sakura, I didn't know you were THAT popular!_

I flip the paper over and quickly scribble my response:

**Yes, Karin! You know I hate her but come on, why would she lie about that? So will you join?**

_I don't know. Tenten's been begging me to join her; she rocks the drums. _

**Tenten?**

_I have senior friends too, ya know. Let's meet after school and DISCUSS!_

Suddenly my after school life just got more exciting.

"Haruno!" barks Iruka sensei. I jump, afraid I've been caught passing notes, "Come here and conjugate this." I blink and grab the chalk. One disaster avoided, one to go.

After my fail to conjugate a verb the bell rings and I practically jump to get out of the room. I can feel Iruka sensei's glare burning the back of my head all the way out of class. Ino catches up to me but we have to split apart because her next class is on the second floor and my next class is Geometry.

I sigh but diligently press forwards through the surge of people desperately fighting to get free of their angered sensei's. I guess it's just a bad day because several teachers are yelling into the hallway.

•••

Lunch is third period. Juniors and sophomores have to eat a little earlier but we also get to escape a little earlier. The seniors and freshmen have lunch together guaranteeing many freshmen heading to the nurses office instead of their next class.

The bell rings for lunch and just like any day I'm almost trampled by the stampedes that plague the school halls.

I search the halls and finally find Ino's bouncing blonde ponytail, shining like a beacon through this mess. I run to catch up with her.

She's holding a girl with four short dirty blonde pigtails by the crook of her arm. The girl looks bored and seems to be weakly straining to get away.

I tap Ino on the shoulder, "Ino!"

She turns to me, "Oh, hey, Saku Chan! This is Temari! She's a sophomore but she can totally play bass!" I guess Ino's on board with the whole band thing now.

Temari raises the hand Ino hasn't gained control over in greeting, "I don't really want to be in your band."

I grab her other elbow, "Come on, Temari Chan! It'll totally be awesome! We already have two seniors!" I half lie.

"Who're you callin' 'Chan'?"

We ignore her halfhearted struggles to break free and continue down the hall to the lunch area outside.

We sit at a blue-rubber-covered table. I pull out my white bento box with the pink tendrils reaching up the sides and onto the bottom corner and Ino-loving to eat things and never gain an ounce- pulls out a bag of McDonalds: a croquette burger, fries, and Coke. Temari has the school lunch which looks harmless in its miso soup and sticky rice form. But it's a SCHOOL lunch, who knows what's in it?

"Okay!" says Ino clapping her hands, "First order of business, we need to know more about this battle of the bands."

Temari raises her hand, "I don't want to be in the battle of the bands."

"Don't be silly," Ino laughs, "of course you do."

Temari sinks down in defeat and I smirk. I know what it's like to have Ino forcing her opinions upon you. I wonder what it would be like to actually go to America and sing in front of thousands of people, I smile to myself.

Ino goes on and on about what notes to play and the clef and how we needed to write out own music. I honestly didn't know what half of it was.

Lunch us finally over and the rest of my classes drag on forever. I'm so excited during my last class, gym, (which is outside) that I'm an easy target and get pummeled by dodge balls. For some reason it seems to be the only game we play. I assume it has something to do with our youth because Gai sensei is yelling about how youthful our stupid youth is. Minus the stupid.

I sigh and after more than enough of being hit in the face I slink off and hide behind the open bleachers.

At the beginning of the school year I dug a hole in under some cinder blocks.

I hid a supply of notebooks under it. And a ton of mechanical pencils. During gym I just write songs. Some of them are dumb and some are so amazing I'm surprised that I actually wrote them. I move one of the cinderblocks and open a notebook. I hear soft breathing farther below the bleachers. I set down the pencil and notebook and venture into the unknown.

I come closer to the person. I realize the purpley hair and perfect figure could only belong to the one and only Hinata Hyuuga. I remember that some of the seniors have gym at the same time as me.

"Hinata?" I whisper. She looks up.

"S-Sakura?" she stutters.

I smile, "In the flesh. Why are you over here?"

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry. I just- I'm no good at dodge ball," she confides. She looks heartbroken.

"Hey, no sweat, me neither," I tell her. "It's a stupid game anyway. I heard that Anko sensei is worse than Gai sensei, though. I didn't think it was possible." I shake my head.

Hinata nods, "She makes us run a lot of laps. B-but I can beat most o-of the boys in the sprints." she blushes and looks down.

"Wow! Nice Hinata!" I almost called her senpai. Her presence is shy but almost royal and seems to almost command it. She blushes to the shade of about a medium boiled lobster.

"Th-thank you."

"Oh! Hey!" I yell suddenly."Ino has two more people for our band that we started the other day!"

She looks puzzled for a second but then her eyes brighten, "Really? A-are we really g-going to be in a band?"

I nod importantly, "And there's a battle of the bands! We could totally join!"

She looks forlorn for a second and bites her lip but her eyes clear and she looks up at me,"W-wow, that's amazing."

She's right. She explained how I've been feeling all day in two words.

"And we're all meeting at the bridge after school, so be there or be square!" I wink and grin and Hinata smiles and giggles a little.

Gai sensei blows his whistle in an annoying pattern and I say good bye to Hinata and run back.

•••

The final bell rings and I shove all my junk from my locker into my bag and hurry down three flights of stairs.

I don't even bother waiting for Ino or Hinata or Temari, I need to get there fast. I run down the street ignoring traffic lights and honking cars. I'm too excited to think much less stop for cars. I finally arrive at the crumbling bridge and sit down, gasping for breath. I'm barely sitting for a minute when Hinata appears behind me. She's barely breathing hard, she did say that she was a fast sprinter.

We say hello then stare into the river watching the ripples. Ino and the other two girls are very slow and I'm amazed when an hour creeps by they finally arrive.

"Heeeey!" Ino yells, waving. She's dragging by their wrists Temari and a brunette with buns on the top of her head, who I'm assuming is Tenten. She sits down on the bridge and motions for Temari and Tenten to sit next to her. They look wary of her (and for good reason) and hover near the other side of the bridge.

"Okay, "I begin, not really sure where

to start, "so we all want to be in this band," I catch Temari's glare," o-or at least most of us," I amend then trail off.

"So this is just a meeting to make sure we all want to be in this band," Ino continues for me."Are y'all in?"

"Aye," I say.

"A-aye," whispers Hinata.

"Aye," says Tenten a little uncertainly.

"Not aye- I-I mean aye," stammers Temari as Ino bursts into flames of anger.

"Okay, I have to go home," says Ino brightly," but now that that's taken care of we can all meet tomorrow right here at, like, one ish." We all nod in agreement then I remember.

"Wait!" I yell. They all turned around from the directions they were walking home."What about the battle of the bands?"

Tenten and Temari look a little confused, "Oh, I'll send you guys the link to the video for the battle of the bands," says Ino,"and we can talk about it tomorrow."

Our little crowd disperses and I walk in the direction of home, the sun falling behind me.

•••

Later that night I bounced around on my bed sing/screaming into my brush holding coke in my other hand.

"SHE WAS GUNNA BE AN ACTRESS

SHE WAS GUNNA BE A STAR

SHE WAS GUNNA SHAKE HER ASS

ON THE HOOD OF WHITE SNAKE'S CAR

HER YELLOW SUV IS NOW THE EN-"

"SHUT UP, SAKURA!" I trip over my messed up blankets and spill Coke everywhere. I forgot I left my window open. I also forgot Ino lives RIGHT NEXT DOOR.

I pull up my shade and glare at Ino, "It's a free country, I can do whatever I want!" I yell, sticking out my tongue. She glares at me and slams down her window. I wait- still dangling out of my window- for a few seconds. The window goes up again. I nod to myself, of course.

"By the way, Sakura, I'm about to send you the official video for the battle of the bands!" she smiles like she wasn't just biting my head off a second ago.

"Okay," I smile back, my eye slightly twitching and my inner self screaming at Ino to shut up and leave me alone.

I wade through the mess of clothes that is my bedroom floor and make my way to my Mac at my big white desk and sit down in the spinny chair with the holes in the back.

I pull up my email and click on the link from Ino.

The little load circle spins and makes me dizzy. Suddenly a flash of purple fills the screen. I jump backwards and almost fall onto the floor.

The video starts and I see that the neon purple belongs to a man with colored gelled hair.

He's wearing black skinny jeans and a black vest over a tight light blue tee shirt.

"Hello people of the greater Japan area!" Okay, that didn't even make sense. The people holding signs fenced in by metal barricades behind him scream and yell in indistinguishable voices.

"As you know I am Daiki Kinjo!" I didn't know that. "This year the Battle of the Bands: Own the Night is in America! The tryouts to get to the finals are in Tokyo! If you think you have what it takes come on down to here!" he points to an address flashing at the bottom of the screen. "Now for the part we all want to hear about: the prizes!" the crowd screams louder."The winner gets to sign a label with Japan's hottest band! Kawaii Otokonoko!" the crowd screams louder and a few girls faint."So come on and try out! We need people and you need fame! Good luck!" the screen turns yellow and the International Battle of the Bands symbol pops up: a circle of solid black with 'International Battle of the Bands' around the edge and a guitar with 'peace' stamped in every language I can imagine stamped on it. The screen turns black and I squirm in excitement. I've never seen Kawaii Otokonoko before and out of curiosity Google them.

A picture of five boys pops up. Their name is Cute Boys. I think it's rather arrogant because only two of them are truly cute. The one on the far left has short blonde stick uppy hair, he's wearing a big orange hoodie, and holding drumsticks. He is punching the guy next to him.

The guy next to him is one of the two 'cute' ones. He looks annoyed at the blonde kid and his beautiful onyx eyes are glaring daggers. His hair is black and sticks up in the shape of a chicken's rear end.

The boy on his right is the next cute boy. His hair is red and sort of long and his eyes are rimmed in black. Between the parts of his hair is a tattoo of the word love. His eyes are light greenish blue and it seems as if he's actually staring at me. Into my soul. I shiver.

The next boy could be considered cute if need be. He's running a hand through his chocolatey brown hair in exasperation. He has odd red triangles tattooed under his eyes and he's grinning.

The next boy looks tired- he might actually be asleep- and bored out of his mind. His brown hair is spiky and I'm forcibly reminded of a pineapple. His eyes are half closed and he's leaning against a lamppost.

I turn off my computer and lights and crawl into my nearly dry bed. I'm so excited though, I know I'll never sleep.

**A/N: What did y'all think? I'm sorry for the random quote at the beginning, fitting though, right? Oh and about Ino's lunch, I read that they actually have croquet burgers in Japan. It's so awesome! I say if you can deep fry something and stick it between hamburger buns do it!**

**I'm sorry if the boy band name doesn't make sense- I got it from Google Translate and that website can be terribly wrong sometimes.**

**Okay thanks for your time read and reviewing! Pretty please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: sorry for not updating sooner but thanks to some expert advice from x- Wabisuke -x I overcame my stupid writers block! Thanks! So chapter número dose- o. Enjoi! **

I wake up to find the sun filtering through my curtains onto my face. I yawn and stretch and step into my fluffy pink slippers. My Hello Kitty radio clock informs me that it's 12:26. I usually don't wake up this late. Hmmm, good old 12:26. Wait- 12:26?! I have half an hour to shower and dress and eat and brush my teeth! I run and take my shower as fast as humanly possible while brushing my teeth (never again shall I do that). I run into my bedroom and put on a black jumper and lime cardigan and matching Toms and sprint downstairs. I run into our garage, grab a granola bar from a box, and try to find my bike in the mess. I finally find it and pull it down from the wall along with a bunch of hoses and rakes. I bike at Mach speed to the bridge, my hair flying behind me and in my face and bugs catching in my teeth.

My bike skids to a stop sideways and I spit the bugs out of my mouth. I turn around and my four new band mates stare at me with different degrees of you-crazy-person-am-I-really-in-a-band-with-you? Look.

"What? I'm only," I check my watch, "seven minutes late."

"SEVEN MINUTES, SAKURA. WE ALREADY HAVE A NAME PICKED OUT!" Ino yells.

"Wow, okay," I blink. "Thanks for picking out a name without me."

"Chīsana Suika," sighs Hinata happily.

"Really? I slept through a decision to name our band? Tiny watermelon?" I facepalm. "Was this unanimous?"

"No," moans Temari, "I mean YES!" she scoots away from Ino quickly and almost tumbles into the river.

"It totally was!" exclaims Ino.

I balance my bike against the cement edge of the bridge, "I don't want to burst your guys' bubble but the name could be taken . . .a different way."

"Like how?" says Ino crossing her arms and sticking out her chin.

"I'm just saying, there are a whole lot of pervy freaks out there."

"Well if you don't like it, you can leave," snaps Ino pointing to the river.

"Um, okay," I blink. Ino smiles and turns back to the group and claps her hands.

"Now we should all go get Starbucks to make it official!"

"Um, how exactly does Starbucks make it official?" asks Tenten.

"Don't question it," says Ino, still smiling. Tenten looks scared and nods.

"I need a ride there," I say. "I _still_ don't have a car."

"Yeah, I need a ride, too," says Temari. "No license."

"Well I'm using my uncle's creeper van for the week, I have too much room," offers Tenten.

"Thanks," I breathe, grateful I don't have to bike there.

We disperse to our vehicles. I see that it isn't exactly a creeper van. It's a van used for someone's tree removal service. I shrug to myself and climb in.

Five minutes later we sit at a rounded booth table sipping various drinks. There's an awkward silence and I sip my manly mocha frappé.

The door to the cozy (but extremely busy) shop opens with the tinkling of a bell. A young man- probably college age- with long brown hair walks in. Hinata's eyes widen and she reaches for her book, knocking over her jasmine tea. She holds her book up to her face, appearing completely engrossed. The man orders a coffee and storms out. Something is off with Hinata.

Hinata excuses herself to the bathroom and Ino chatters away about her new nail polish, unaware that anything just happened. I think Temari and Tenten saw it, though.

I stand up, "I'm going to get more whip cream for my frappé," I say.

Ino shakes her head,"Sakura," she chides, "you'll never lose weight if you keep eating sugar."

"I like my body the way it is, thank you very much," I say frowning and rolling my eyes.

I go to the barista, who narrows her eyes at me, and set down my drink and sneak to the bathroom. I need to find out what just went down. Only one of the three stalls is closed and I can here soft crying. I rap softly with the knuckle of my pointer finger.

"Hinata," I whisper.

The metal door opens,"S-Sakura," she says, eyes wide and red.

"What's wrong? Who was that?" I ask.

"No one. I'm f-fine," she says. I arch my eyebrows. She sniffles and rubs her eyes with the sleeve of her teal Hollister shirt.

"Okay," I say, "If you're sure. But, well, if you need to you can tell me. Even if we've only known each other for three days." she nods and shuffles out of the bathroom. I follow her out, determined to find out exactly what is going on.

It might have been my imagination but I could have sworn I had seen his lavender eyes before.

Tenten drops me off at home. I tried to get whatever it was out of Hinata but she stayed quiet the rest of the time.

My parents are out of town- country really. They both sell real estate (snore) and every year they go to some exotic country for a 'convention', which is where they learn how to trick people into buying houses. This year it's in Belize.

So I come home to an empty house with hours to kill. I could go stalk Hinata and figure out what happened, but that might, no, definitely would creep her out.

I flop on our orange sofa and turn on the TV, for background noise. I turn on my iPhone and Google 'Hyuuga'- I have a sneaking suspicion Hinata was related to him. Those big lavender eyes could be identical.

Surprisingly I get almost 100,000 hits. I tap the top link. A lilting font labels the top of the page: 'Hyuuga Law Firm'. Under it in smaller lettering proclaims: 'Quality is our business'. Wow. How original. I scroll down and see a picture of a family.

I squint in confusion. Is Hinata . . .a lawyer? There are four people in the picture. Right away I see Hinata, she stands off to the side and looks very serious. A man who is so obviously her father looks straight forward. His hair is as long as Hinata's and is pulled hack from his face. His face shows no emotion and his hand is on the shoulder of the young man I saw at Starbucks! He also looks very serious; his dark brown hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. A girl stands in front of Hinata's father. Her hair is long and black, and a strand falls into her face. Her lips bare the traces of a smile. She looks just like Hinata- they must be sisters. They share the same wide lavender eyes and you can tell they are related.

_(Left to right): Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hiashi, Hyuuga Hanabi. _

Reads the caption underneath. Then a bunch of legal crap. Neji, huh. But why was Hinata so freaked out about him?

I look at the time. 6:37 already. I go upstairs and put on my soft paid pj pants and purple sweatshirt with the top cut off. I go downstairs and, after rifling through the fridge, throw a carton of Pad Thai noodles into the microwave.

I sit down on the couch and change the TV channel to a rerun of my regular soaps. So I watch that and cry for an hour.

"Sh-she loved him," I sniff and rub my nose and eyes and flip the channel to an infomercial for Armadillo Paste.

I pick up my phone and text Ino:

**Not that u noticed cuz u were going on & on about lipstick but Hinata was acting weird at Starbucks**

Ino replied almost instantly:

**It was nail polish. **

I furiously tapped keys:

**Not the point!**

**Oh, please. **Says Ino.** I notice everything. Hinata obviously wasn't supposed to b there & she thought that dude wld get her in trouble. He's probably her bro or something.**

I texted back:

**Okay. No need to show off. I gtg now bye**.

I set down my phone and let myself fall asleep. I woke up an hour later to the sound of a harp: my ringtone for Hinata.

I slide the little green arrow.

"Hello," I murmur, half asleep.

"I-I can't d-do it," she whispers through a sob.

"What?" I cry, suddenly alert.

"I can't be in the band."

**A/N: Wow, drama in the second chapter. If you can call it drama +snorts+. Wow, these chappies are pretty long. As always thank you and read and review!**** :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A fresh new chapter! So I was reading a certain fanfic that semi recently ended and it got over 1,000 reviews. I have a feeling that's not going to happen so I'm going to shoot for ten! Thank you so much, all of you who are following this story! It means a lot, reviews too, though, please. Is that too pushy? Gomen. **

**Okay! Let's begin!**

"What do you mean, you can't be in the band?" Hinata becomes dangerously quiet. "Hinata!"

"I-I just c-can't," she whispers after a long moment, "I'm not even supposed to be talking to you right now." her voice sounds nervous and far off.

"Hinata, you need to explain," I say firmly. There is another pause and I swear I hear something snap.

"Here's an explanation," Hinata's voice sounds loud and laced with anger. "Maybe everyone can't do everything whenever they want to. I just want to but-" there was a sob and she hung up.

What the-? Where had that loud, confident Hinata come from? I need answers and I needed them soon- even if it meant getting three hours of sleep then going to the Hyuuga house in my pajamas. Well, actually, I partly wanted to go to see a rich person's face when they saw a girl in pajamas in their foyer. It's on my bucket list.

My phone says its 10 o'clock PM and I'm tired. I stand up and slowly make my way to my bedroom. My bed looks so nice and inviting. I fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillows.

My phone alarm clock goes off which is weird because I never set it. Its seven o'clock. I roll over to turn it off and see its not an alarm but a call. Ino.

"Yo," I mumble, half-asleep.

"Waaakey wakey," chirps Ino. I sigh and sit up.

"What's up, Pig?" I ask.

"Auditions, duh," she says. I gasp and choke on my own spit and nearly fall over.

"Are those today?" I manage to choke out.

"No, dummy," she giggles.

"Okay," I groan,"A) you just gave me a heart attack and 2) why are you talking like a Lolita girl rolled in moe and stuffed with rainbows? On helium? You're talking weird and you sound weird."

"Eh? But I'm testing out personalities for our band."

"Forget about personalities, you need to test reality," I snap.

"Aw, but I wanted to be the cute one in the band," I can hear her pout through the phone.

"If anyone's the cute one, it's Hinata," I inform her. Better to give her the facts, straight up.

"Why are you so obsessed with Hinata anyway?" I can imagine Ino examining her fingernails and resting the phone on her shoulder.

"Well, naturally, because she quit the band- WHAT AM I SAYING? I forgot! Hinata quit!"

"What?!"

"Listen," I say as calmly as one can in such a situation, "you use one of your connections and get her to change her mind, I have to go."

"Wait but-" I hang up.

I shuffle downstairs in my fluffy slippers and sit down hard at the kitchen table. Grumbling I reach for the cereal that is perpetually in the middle of the table. I get up and open our fridge and take out the milk. I pour both into a mug and go outside.

Crap. I forgot I don't have a car. How can I possibly get to Hinata's house? Unless. . .

Three minutes later I'm in Ino's garage. Her car is awesome; Mercedes Benz, clean, and I know where she hides the key. I don't really follow her logic, I get hiding a house key, but car keys?

I pull her keys from inside a purple flowerpot and climb into the sleek black car. Sorry Ino, I think. This could technically be called stealing or, in some cases, Grand-Theft Auto. Me and Ino have known each other forever, though, so it's fine!

The garage door opens and I drive down the peaceful street. The sky is gray and cloudy. I turn on the GPS.

"Good morning, Ayaka chan," I say, patting it affectionately. For some reason Ino names her appliances, for example, her juicer is named Rin Sensei. Why sensei? I honestly have no idea.

"Good morning, "says the metallic female voice. It whirs for a second, while it processes my voice,"Sakura san."

I smile and wrinkle my nose, "Can you find the Hyuuga estate for me?"

"Certainly," a little bunny hops up and down above the word 'loading'. "Turn right ahead," Ayaka says a moment later.

"Done!" I sing, turning right. I go on, following the directions, turning right and left, making legal U turns. I'm in the countryside when my stomach starts to rumble. My milk and cereal is soggy and gross. I'll have to get something from Hinata, assuming she and her family don't want to kill the girl in pajamas standing in their foyer. Suddenly my stomach no longer hurts from hunger, but nerves.

What if they kick me out? I think nervously. But suddenly that's the least of my worries. Why can't Hinata be in the band? What if I got her in trouble? What of she hates me? That's one less friend. To be honest up until we formed our band Ino was my only friend. The ache of being alone swells in my chest. I swallow it and pull into a looooong gravel drive. It slowly smooths out and perfectly trimmed hedges appear on either side of me. My breath leaves in a gasp as I pull up to a mansion. It's giant. A beautiful giant.

An elegant, gilded arch rises high over a grand mahogany door. Beautiful gray stone wings stretch out on either side with tall windows every few yards. The roof is flat and lined by black wrought iron. I pull the car around a fountain of a horse spitting water.

I drum my fingers nervously on the genuine leather steering wheel. I look down at my flannel pajamas and suddenly I'm cursing my cynical nature. I run my fingers through my hair and squeeze my eyes tightly shut, gathering my courage. I take a deep breath and exit the car, making my way to the looming door.

I grab the gold knocker. It's cold and I notice my hand shaking. Very un-characteristic of me. I steady my hand and knock in an annoying pattern. I smile a little to myself, good to have you back, I think. Good to be back, I reply.

The door opens a crack, quietly. I step back and see Hinata's luminous eyes peering out at me.

"Oh, Sakura san," she sounds dubious.

"Hi, Hinata," I say, "can I come-"

I hear footsteps behind Hinata and she yelps and shuts the door. I blink in surprise. Despite the thickness of the door I'm surprised to hear bits of conversation drifting from inside.

_"Neji niisan...outside...nothing..._

_away...NO!" _the door swings open. In front of me stands the guy from Starbucks, the guy on the website.

He surveys my attire and his lips curl into a cold smile that reminds me of wolves on Animal Planet.

"I want to talk to Hinata," I say bravely, though that smile makes me shiver.

"Hinata sama is not here right now," he says in a voice as cold as his smile.

"What are you talking about?" I yell. "I just saw her!"

He turns around and shuts the door. Once again the door has been slammed in my face and I'm left blinking in surprise and confusion.

I spin on mheal and stalk towards the car. I fling the door open roughly and jam the key in. As I drive away tears form in the corners of my eyes- though from frustration or hurt I don't know.

My phone buzzes and I see I have about a billion texts from Ino. I ignore them and drive home. I pull down my street and pull up Ino's driveway and into her garage. She's standing there, hands on her hips, tapping her foot in annoyance. I get out and hand her the keys. She starts to yell at me but I push by her and go home. I trudge up my stairs to my room and crawl under my blankets.

That meeting shook me up more than I thought it would.

A**/N: Okay, sorry this took longer to write than I wanted, for that I'm very sorry. Hopefully I can get this posted ****today****. Oh, recently I've been informed that law firms are 'so 80's'. Well I am sorry, you guys can imagine it is, like, a architecture company or something. I personally thought it was so 90's at best.****I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE! Well, thank ya'll kindly, please review :)**


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